Congratulations! You just became the manager of a Vegas poker room!

[SplawnDarts]

Good question - I've been thinking about how to make this work myself. Here's what I came up with, and this could be applied to starting any game, not just 30/60 LTH:

1) On the board, have players indicate whether they will play short or not. Furthermore, establish a relationship with your shorthanded-happy players, where they get some kind of minor bonus comp in return for one simple act: taking their name off the list if they leave or get into another game they like more. If you make friends with them, and get games happening that they want to play in, they WILL help you out in return. The comp just shows you care. That way, at least the short-handed part of your list will usually be accurate.

2) Start games earlier - 4 actually present short-handed players is enough to go. Offer reduced rake/fee of some sort for any game under 5.

3) Have exactly 2 props on staff willing to play pretty much anything you might seriously consider spreading. If you get even one definitely-present non-shorthanded player for one of the shorthanded games, put both props in that game so that the coward makes it seven. Most people will play at seven, especially if you only put nine chairs at new tables so it doesn't look too empty.

4) Now here's where it gets tricky, because at this point, you've probably got the toughest game at that limit in town, what with 4 likely-pros and 2 props. That one guy is at serious risk, and with him your game. The good news is you've got a running near-full game. My experience is that running games tend to fill up at reasonable hours once you get them started, so you should be able to get the props out pretty fast which will make the game a little softer.

5) Repeat the process for 2/5 PLO or 5/10 NLTH or 20/40 HOSE or whatever you want to get going next.


FWIW, if you take my advice, I will pitch a tent in your cardroom and never leave next time I go to vegas. I don't think I would be alone - there are a lot of people who don't want to wait for games and aren't afraid to play shorthanded.